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Top exoplanet hunter keeps job despite serial sexual harassment

ONE of the world’s leading exoplanet hunters, Geoff Marcy of the University of California, Berkeley, has been found to have violated his institution’s sexual harassment policy during a series of incidents involving students between 2001 and 2010. But the university isn’t going to dismiss him – unless he does it again.

“It is clear that my behaviour was unwelcomed by some women,” Marcy (left) said in a statement.

On Friday, BuzzFeed News revealed allegations from four women that Marcy had repeatedly engaged in inappropriate physical behaviour, sparking an investigation. Marcy has now agreed to “abide by clear expectations concerning his future interactions with students”. Failure to do so could mean dismissal.

In an open letter, 22 members of the Berkeley astronomy faculty have called on the university to re-examine its response to the case. “We believe that Geoff Marcy cannot perform the functions of a faculty member,” they write.